Illuminated warning signal or sign



Aug. 26, 1958 1 JOHNSON ILLUMINATED WARNING SIGNAL OR SIGN Filed Feb. l, 1956 La f5 INVENTOIL [6W/@ence Jo/yson BY m aan fw QTTOQNEUS Patent Oitice 2,848,829 Patented Aug. 26, 1958 ILLUMlNATED WARNING SIGNAL OR SIGN Lawrence Johnson, Princeton, Minn.

Application February 1, 1956, Serial No. 562,868

S Claims. (Cl. -l29) This invention relates to improvements in an illuminated warning signal or sign primarily intended for use on school busses to halt highway trac while the bus is stationary for loading and discharge of school age children.

It is a customary practice in many suburban communities, and particularly in rural areas to transport children to and from school by bus. Transporting school children gives rise to many problems that are non-existent in the case of urban and interurban busses used for general passenger transportation purposes. Unlike general transportation busses that stop for the loading and unloading of passengers at designated stations or road crossings, school busses must of necessity pick up and discharge children close to their homes and places that are not normally thought of as bus stops. In general, the only adult riding with the children will be the bus driver, and he normally n cause of these hazards to the younger members of the communities, most of the several States have enacted statutes requiring traffic moving in either direction to come to a complete stop and remain stationary while a school bus is halted and is picking up or discharging children.

The problem that arises in the use of school busses is in providing an adequate signalling device that is readily visible to tratiic and will arrest the attention of drivers under all conditions. bus may be of a distinctive color, but often these colors will vary from State to State and tourists traveling in distant States will not necessarily recognize by its color that the vehicle is a school bus or that they are required to come to a complete stop and remain thus until the childrens safety is assured. In most instances, school busses are provided with a metal sign having the signal Stop painted thereon, and arranged so that the driver may rotate the sign to an active position while he is loading or discharging children. The difficulty with these signs are that they are not readily visible during the early hours of the morning or the later hours of the afternoon, and particularly as to traic which is moving in a direc,- tion opposite to that in which the bus is headed. Moreover, in many instances the highly may extend in a direction parallel with the suns path, which makes it additionally diicult to observe the unlighted sign when the driver is facing the sun while it is rising or setting. Most busses are equipped with the so-called brake lights that are visible from the rear of the bus, and in many instances an additional blinking signal is located on the top of the bus and is activated when the bus is stopped and is picking up or discharging children, but experience has taught that even these signals are not eicient to positively halt traic,

In many communities the school and particularly those vehicle that are moving in a direction opposite to the bus. It would appear that many motorists observe these signals and may regard them as precautionary signals, but in far too many instances, tratlic seems to fail to understand through adequate warning that they must come to an absolute stop and remain thus while the school bus is stopped.

In the present invention, I have provided an illuminated warning signal that prominently displays the word Stop that can be seen on a level highway for several hundred yards in either direction, and under all the conditions which have made previous signals ineffective. The signal or sign consists essentially of a pair of translucent colored plates disposed on either side of a frame that is composed of a closed loop. The loop forms a support for a source of intense artificial light that is situated between the translucent plates. To increase the intensity of the light, all of the inner surfaces of the frame and plates are of a polished or reflective character, while the exterior of the plates is of an irregular or roughened nature to absorb and diffuse external light coming from the sun or lamps of approaching vehicles rather than to directly retiect this external light as in the instance of a mirrored surface. The warning word Stop is formed in connection with each of the plates, and by use of the multiple reective surfaces on the interior of the sign, the warning word is made to stand out very clearly and serves to arrest and retain the attention of traliic.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved illuminated warning signal or sign for use on a school bus to warn traffic to halt for the loading and discharging of school children.

Another object is to provide a signal of the class described containing a frame for supporting a source of illumination, and a pair of translucent plates disposed on opposite sides of the source of illumination which are of a reile-ctive character on their inner surfaces and of a light absorbing and diiusing character 0n their outer surfaces.

Another object is to provide in a signal of the class described, containing a frame in the form of a closed loop composed of curved reflecting surfaces that form a support for a source of illumination, together with translucent colored plates disposed on either side of the frame having their inner surfaces of a reflective nature and their outer surfaces of a diffusing and light absorptive nature.

A further object is to provide in a signal of ,the class described having additional reflective surfaces within the interior of the signal to intensify the illumination of the signal and a Warning word carried thereby and to increase the visibil-ity of the signal and the warning word.

Other and further objects may become apparent from the following specification and claims, and in the appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the improved signal forming the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the interior supporting frame, and source of illumination of the signal shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the lines 3 3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View of a portion of the signal shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of one of the translucent plates taken on the lines 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 6 and 7 are modications of the construction shown in Fig. 5; and,

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the portion of a school bus showing the manner in which the signal is used in connection therewith.

Having reference to the several views of the drawings, the invention will be described in detail. Referring rst to Figs. 8 and '1, general reference numeral 9y indicates a fragmentary portion of the front end of a bus consisting of a body portion 1t), a Windshield 11, a hood 12 and fenders 13. Extending outwardly from one side of the body is a warning signal, indicated by general reference ycharacter 14 that forms the subject matter of this`invention.

Having reference to Fig. l, a pair of spaced bars indicatedrby reference characters 16 and 18 carry a plate 20 that is secured to the bars and contains hinge portions. 22 for securing the signal 14 onto the bus body 10. A curved bar 24 which is also visible in Fig. 8 is secured at its outer end to plate 20 and forms a lever connection between the plate 2t) and manually operable means within the interior of the bus body 19 by which the driver thereof may hingedly rotate the signal 14 from a position in line with the body to its extended position shown in Fig. 8.

Having reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the bars 16 and 18 on their ends support a frame 26 which extends in a vertical plane and is formed as a loop. On either lateral side of the frame 26 are disposed a pair of translucent plates whose characteristics will be discussed in detail hereinafter. The translucent plates 2S and 30 are cushioned to the frame 26 by annular gaskets 32, and the plates are secured to the frame 26 by a series of kbolts 34 or other fastening means. Supported within the interior of frame 26 are a multiplicity of` lamp sockets 36, each of which is intended to contain an incandescent lamp 38. The lamps 38 are disclosed as relatively long thin tubular members so as to provide an even distribution of intense illumination within the frame. To aid in the distribution of illumination in the direction of plates 2S and 30, at least the inner surface of frame 26 is curved and is composed of a light reflective surface indicated at 40. VAs seen in Fig. 4, light coming from the lamps 38 as indicated by dotted lines is reflected in the direction of the plates 28 and 30. The characteristics of the translucent plates 28 and 30 are quite important. These plates may be comprised of either glass or any form of conventional plastic materials which are translucent. Preferably, they are either red or yellow for the longer light Waves are more readily visible and will penetrate fog. The inner surface of each of the plates indicated by the letter S is smooth and highly reflective while the outer surface of each of the plates indicated by the letter I is irregular or roughened. In Fig. 1, the outer surface l is indicated by stippling. The irregular surface I may be formed in any one of a number of Ways such as by leaving the plastic surface unpolished or by Sandblasting or other means of reducing the outer surface from a direct reflecting surface to one which breaks up and diffuses any light rays coming from an external source as Well as diiusing light rays coming from the source of illumination 38. On the other hand, the inner smooth surface S on each of the plates reflects in the direction of the other plate all of the light rays that do not penetrate the plate.

Referring now to Figs. l, 3 and 5, is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention in which the warning word Stop is made to stand out distinctly against the colored background of the plates. On the inner or reflecting side of each of the plates, letters composed of reflective metal foil 42, such as aluminum foil, have been adhered to the inner surface of the plate with their reilecting surfaces disposed inwardly towards the source of illumination. The purpose of lthis arrangement is to make the letters opaque and thus contrast with the remainder of the plate when seen from the outer surface of the plate, and also to reect light in the direction of the opposite plate. Additionally, letters formed of opaque material indicated by reference character 44 are formed on or adhered to the outer surface of the plates and preferably the material forming the letters 44 will be black or of a dark color so as to additionally absorb light from external sources. The outer surface of the letter 44 will also be irregular in nature to aid in the light absorbing characteristics of the material.

Having reference to Fig. 6, is shown a modification wherein the plates are formed in the same manner as described heretofore, but contain only the reliective inner foil letters 42, omitting the outer letters 44,

Referring next to Fig. 7, is shown a further modication wherein the plates are of the same character as previously described, but here thereflective inner surface indicated at 42a is composed of aluminum foil or the like which covers the entire inner surface of the plate and the letters are formed by removing the material 42a so as to expose the inner reflective surface S and permit the illumination to penetrate only in the form of the letters.

The operation of the signal will be briefly explained.l

The sign is carried on the foreward left hand side of the bus, and when not in use it extends parallel with the bus body, and may be moved to the active position shown in Fig. 8 by the bus driver. The circuitV to the several lamps 38 is conventional and while not shown, the wires to the several sockets 36 extend through the interior of the tubular frame 26. If desired, the circuit may'include an interrupter of a conventional nature so, that when activated the signal will blink.

It will be noted thatV the lamps 38 are disposed in alignment with each letter of the warning word Stopg and will, therefore, clearly define the warning word, in Whatever form it is made. The rays of light that donot penetrate one of the translucent plates will be reflected in the direction of the other; likewise light rays that are directed towards the loop or frame 26 or the reflective foil surfaces 42 and 42a will also be reflected between the two plates so as to multiply and evenly distribute the illumination within the interior of the signal. Light which penetrates the translucent plates is somewhat diffused but the principal function of the irregularouter surfaces is to absorb and diffuse light rays emanating from exterior sources and also prevent a direct reflection of the exterior light back to its source, as might occur if the outer surface of each of the platesV was smooth and polished.

The advantages of the invention reside in the fact that al1 ofthe interior surfaces of the signal are of aV reflective nature and tend to deflect the light from the source of illumination in the direction of the translucent colored panels so as to intensify the source of illumination. The outer surfaces of the panels being of an absorptive and light diffusing nature prevent the signal from reecting light coming from an exterior source. In its preferred embodiment, the signal is of sufficient size as to readily arrest and retain the attention of other drivers, and can -be seen at substantial distances in the early hours of the morning and the late hours of the afternoon, and also can `be readily seen even when the sun is approaching the horizon, because of the absorptive nature of the signal. The signal shown and described is subject to minor variations that may be Within the skill of persons versedk in the art, and the invention is defined in Vthe terms of the appended claims. f

I claim:

1. A Safety signal of the 4class described, comprisingfa substantially rectangular supporting frame which extends in a single plane, a source of illumination carried by said frame within the interior thereof, and a pair of translucent plates'supported on said frame on the opposite sides of in a single plane, a source of illumination carried by theY frame within the interior thereof and arranged for relatively equaldistribution within said frame, a pair, of

translucent plates supported on said frame and disposed on opposite sides of said source of illumination, the outer surface of each of said plates formed as an irregular light diffusing surface, and a layer of opaque material having a highly reilective surface on one side thereof carried on portions of the inner surface of each of said plates for reecting light from the source of illumination in the direction of the opposite plate and also forming a symbol on a part of each of the plates which is visible on the outer side of the plate.

3. A safety signal of the class described, comprising a tubular supporting frame formed as a continuous loop and extending in a single plane, a source of illumination carried Iby said frame within the interior of said loop, and a pair of translucent plates supported on said frame and disposed on the opposite sides of said source of illumination, the outer surface of each of said plates formed as an irregular light diffusing surface, and all of the surfaces within the interior of said trame formed of rellective rnaterial to multiply the rays of light emanating from said source of illumination and direct the same toward said plates to increase the intensity of light transmitted `by said plates.

4. A safety signal of the class described, comprising a rectangular frame which extends in a single plane, a source of illumination carried within the interior of said frame, a pair of translucent plates carried by said frame and disposed on opposite sides of the source of illumination, the inner surface of each of said plates formed as a highly reective surface for reflecting non-transmitted 30 2,006,654

light in the direction of the opposite plate, the outer sur- .aes-8,829

face of each of said plates formed as an irregular light diffusing surface, and at least one symbol formed of opaque material carried by each of said plates in such a manner as to be contrasted from the light transmitted by the plates.

5. A safety signal of the class described, comprising a tubular frame having a light reflective surface and formed as a continuous loop, a source of illumination carried by said frame and disposed within the interior of said loop, a pair of translucent plates canied by said frame and disposed on opposite sides of the source of illumination, the inner surface of each of said plates formed as a relatively smooth highly reflective surface, the outer surface of each of said plates formed as an irregular light diusing surface, a layer of opaque material having a highly reective surface disposed on the inner side of each of said plates forming an opaque symbol on a portion of said plate and reflecting a portion of the light from the source of illumination in the direction of the other plate, and a layer of opaque material disposed on the outer side of each of said plates in alignment with the opaque material on the inner side of the plates and forming a symbol on the outer side of each of said plates in contrast with the remaining translucent portions of said plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Roan `luly 2, 1935 2,177,467 Sunderhauf Oct. 24, 1935 

